Archive for October, 2017

I assume you mean a prayer asking God for forgiveness and asking Jesus into your life to be your Lord and Savior. No, you won’t find this kind of prayer with exact words in scripture, because there is no “formula” given by Jesus for asking forgiveness and salvation. However, if you read the gospel of John, you will find many occasions where Jesus offers forgiveness and salvation to whomever asks for it. The words are not important. The attitude of the heart is what matters, and Jesus knows our hearts. Anyone who through faith recognizes their sins and separation from God and wants to make that right through Jesus will be granted that salvation. I would encourage you to read chapters 5 and 6 of the gospel of John to see what Jesus is saying about coming to him, and the promises he makes to those who do come to him. Again, he gives no formula for the prayer–only believe and come. Read also John 8:34-36; 10:7-18; 14:6 and there are more, but this will give you the idea of why we come to Jesus to be made right with God.

Do you believe in electricity? As far as I know you can’t touch, taste or see it. Do you believe in gravity? You can’t touch, taste or see it. I’m not trying to be smart with you, but we do believe in things we can only see because of their effects. We see the effects of God in everything around us that was not made by humans.

But the main reason Christians believe in God is because of Jesus. In this case, there was a real, historic occasion where God did make himself visible to us in human form. We believe what we do about God, because Jesus revealed it to us. Jesus proved his credentials as God by all the miracles He worked, culminating in his rising from the dead, and 40 days later ascending to Heaven.

When the apostle Thomas refused to believe Jesus had risen from the dead, based on what the others told him, but required seeing for himself, Jesus answered: “Blessed are they who have not seen, yet have believed.”

You see, ultimately it is based on trust. We believe what many humans tell us. We believe the weather report, the time of sunrise and sunset, the time the bus will come, the bank statement, what the lab tests say, what the repairman says–especially if we get a second opinion, and so on. Can we believe the reports of the apostles, who had everything to lose and nothing to gain by what they said? Read the gospels again and see if this doesn’t look like a visitation from God. Read the Acts of the Apostles, and see if this didn’t look like men who really believed what they were preaching about Jesus.

Even after all Jesus did, and after the miracles even his apostles did, there were many who would not believe. Do you wonder why? Sometimes this particular type of unbelief says more about the person than it does about the reality of Jesus and God.

Faith is the gift of God. God will give you all the faith you need for the situation He has placed you into. But you need to nourish and use your faith. Just as God gives the farmer crops and allows them to grow, the farmer must tend them, keep the weeds out, water them, and ultimately harvest them. We can nurture our faith by staying close to Jesus. We can keep reading our bibles–especially the New Testament which is all about Jesus. We can keep talking to Jesus throughout the day, being aware of his presence with us and thankful for all he does. And we can spend time with our “Jesus family”. We need to spend time with other believers. It can be a small group, a bible study or a prayer group. Other believers help us learn, encourage and challenge us, help us and pray for us–and we do the same for them.

You have made the decision to believe that Jesus is the Son of God who became human and died to pay the penalty for your sins. You believe that He rose to life again on the third day. You have repented to God for your sins, and received His forgiveness and promise of spending eternity in heaven with Him. That is so wonderful. Do you know that Jesus told us in Luke 15:10 that heaven rejoices whenever a sinner repents? That means that heaven is rejoicing over you! Another wonderful thing happened too. Jesus came into your life forever. He is close as your breath. The Holy Spirit lives in you.

Have you noticed yet that this doesn’t say anything about how old you are? Jesus told a story about a man who had a vineyard and needed some people to work. Some came at daybreak, a little later, more came. Some came at noon, and some came an hour before day’s end. When the sun was going down, the man came out to pay the workers. He paid the last ones in first–a full days’ wage. He paid the same to each group. When the ones who had worked all day saw they were all paid the same, they asked why those who had worked only an hour were paid as much as they. The man said–you agreed to work for a wage. If I want to be kind to those who came late, don’t I have the right to do what I want with my money? Jesus was making the point that it is coming to Him that saves us–not how long we worked for him in life. It is faith in coming for forgiveness that saves.

I would love to help you understand some things I learned, about doing what God wants. But first I want to tell you a story. I once knew an elderly woman very well. Every Saturday her son came by to mow her lawn and do any heavy chores she could no longer do. Then he would give her a big kiss and he was off again. One day I was there and when her son left, she said: “I wish sometimes he would just forget the chores and just sit with me and visit awhile.”

That little scene made such a big impression on me because at the time I wanted badly to do great things for God. And then I realized God might want my company even more. So, I believe our relationship with God starts with prayer. Prayer doesn’t have to be formal. If we address our prayers to Jesus, we can just talk to him like we’d talk to our best friend–about whatever is on our mind. And if we address our prayers to the Father, I like to just picture myself on his lap as his child, and talk to him like a child talks to its daddy. In the bible it says we may call our Father “Abba” which is Aramaic for “Daddy”. Even if we didn’t have a father in our lives, we can imagine “Abba” as the daddy we always dreamed of–for he made us with that desire and those needs for a strong, protective daddy who can protect and care for us.

I have learned it isn’t so much about doing what God expects. Its doing what God has planned for the two of us to do together. The work begins with prayer. He puts wonderful ideas in our minds of how we can do good. Sometimes its an idea we never imagined we’d do, but with God’s help we accomplish something new. Sometimes its about helping a person, and the idea is exciting. God’s plans for us are always good and always lead us higher.

You can just talk to Jesus like you would talk to a best friend. If you have asked Him to be your Savior, He is in your life forever. He is close as your breath. Tell him whatever is on your mind. Ask him for help for yourself and others, ask his forgiveness when you mess up, and remember to thank him for answered prayer and for all he does. As you go along, you can begin to pray about the bible passages you read. Whatever comes to mind, you can talk it over with Jesus. Another practice is to write out your prayers. I fold my binder paper pages in half lengthwise. I write down whatever I ask Jesus, I write things I feel he is nudging me to do (so I won’t forget) and also write down insights I feel he is giving me into certain situations. Later I go back to thank him for the prayers he has answered, to record things I have finished and so on. Writing down prayers helps people like me whose minds flit like butterflies from one thing to another–it helps me focus and concentrate. However, going back and seeing how God has answered past prayers is a great source of joy and thanksgiving. The important thing is just to start. When you are moving, God will steer.

So many people feel we aren’t really serving God unless we are doing something boring, unpleasant or anything we would rather not be doing. What a false picture of God.

There are so many ways to serve. And God is generous in letting us serve in those places that give us joy. Do you have a heart for widows? Does it give you joy to help them–especially those who are lonely? Does it give you joy to work with the elderly, the homeless, or children? Does it give you joy to be outdoors, or to do crafts? Do you like to work with groups, or quietly alone? Well, you get the idea. God doesn’t mind that we work with the particular age group or situation we feel drawn towards. And He doesn’t mind that we use skills we enjoy using. These are the ways we can give the best of ourselves–just as he made us.